COURSE DESCRIPTION
Students will explore worldviews or philosophies of life – what they are, how they come to expression in our everyday actions, and their influence on the lives of individuals, communities, and society in general. Students will explore the worldviews of others and begin to understand them by reading about the beliefs and values of other people, religions, and cultures; and by engaging in discussion with each other. In so doing they will increase their knowledge of self and others, develop critical awareness of various worldviews, and begin to articulate their own worldview.
FORMAT
Online format of this course will include fourteen (14) lectures, each combined with power points, course readings, tasks, and review questions. Students will be able to proceed at their own pace and begin the lectures and assigned readings anytime. Online courses are largely self-directed, and students will be responsible for their own learning.
READINGS
A number of short readings from Valk, J. (2021). Worldviews: A Comprehensive Framework for Knowing Self and Others (Palgrave Macmillan) will be made available online. The rest of the readings are PDF documents and numerous short readings of a wide variety. Some weeks there are optional extra readings, with which you may wish to engage but are not required.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
This course has one overall learning outcome: Knowing Self & Others. As such, at the end of the course students should be able to:
- Demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the concept and use of the term worldview
- Demonstrate awareness and understanding of the worldviews of others
- Demonstrate awareness and understanding of one’s own worldview
- Demonstrate awareness of the impact of worldviews on culture
- Demonstrate critical analysis
The final goal of this online course is to have you become aware of and understand the meaning and use of the term worldviews, various religious and secular worldviews, and your own worldview – worldviews as inward journeys and outward expressions. To get you there I will introduce an interdisciplinary worldview framework that will assist you in exploring what worldviews are all about, what they entail, how to understand them, and more. This framework will be very helpful in exploring your own worldview – knowing self. But before you can do that, it is very helpful to explore the worldviews of others – knowing others. This course is based on the premise that everyone has a worldview; everyone has beliefs and values of some kind.
We will use an interdisciplinary worldview framework to explore religious worldviews such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Native Spirituality. We will also explore secular worldviews such as Humanism, Secularism, Scientism, and Consumerism/Capitalism. Knowing others is in many ways a helpful means of knowing self. This course should be an exciting journey of exploration.
There is no magic formula to assist you in managing your time in regard to the workload in this online course. You may find yourself spending more or less time with any one particular reading, none of which reflects on your ability to do well. Please remember that much of this course involves reading and writing on some penetrating questions and concerns. Many of them do not have easy answers or solutions but require considerable thought and reflection. We are on a journey of knowing self and others. This course will open new areas and new vistas for you to consider.
FINAL PAPER
The final online examination (multiple choice and written) will be held at the end of the course. It will be an opportunity for you to demonstrate your learning regarding worldviews, knowing self and knowing others, towards which you will be building and progressing the entire semester. Final details to follow.